Gwen Stefani has had quite an incredible career over the past three decades.
While today most know the mother-of-three as a solo artist,
fashion designer, and the wife to country singer Blake Shelton,
she first debuted on the entertainment scene as the lead singer of Ska/punk band No Doubt.
In 1995, Stefani and her band members — Tony Kanal, Tom Dumont, and Adrian Young — released
their breakthrough LP, Tragic Kingdom, which introduced their music to the world and propelled
the group to superstardom with hits like "Just A Girl" and "Don't Speak." After dating for seven
years, the lyrical content heavily focused on the breakup of Stefani and Kanal. In a 2012
interview with CBS, Kanal explained they, quote, "got through it," but admitted it was brutally
emotional and draining to hear and perform those breakup songs on tour. Kanal told the network,
"We were opening this wound, next to each other, constantly."
"Everything was drained. It was brutal."
The duo remained friends and band members and released two more studio albums as No
Doubt — Return of Saturn and Rock Steady — in the 2000s. After releasing a Greatest Hits
compilation in 2003, No Doubt decided to call it a day by going on hiatus.
The band members ended up starting families of their own and embarked on solo projects.
Stefani remained the most high-profile member by becoming a fashion designer
and a chart-topping solo artist. So did the band keep in touch during this time?
Well, when No Doubt decided to go their separate ways,
lead singer Gwen Stefani went solo and released two albums:
Love. Angel. Music. Baby. and The Sweet Escape. While on tour in 2008, Tony Kanal, Tom Dumont,
and Adrian Young made a surprise appearance at one of Stefani's tour stops and performed
a medley of their greatest hits. The following year, they embarked on a North American tour.
Eleven years after their last release, No Doubt returned for a new studio album in 2012,
Push and Shove. During a 2012 interview with ITV's This Morning, Kanal explained that even though the
band was on hiatus, they remained friends and were still in touch with one another and saw each other
quite often. The album peaked at No. 3 on the US Billboard 200 and saw No Doubt on tour once again.
In a 2015 interview with POP Magazine, Stefani admitted that creating their last album was
a struggle due to trying to balance motherhood and her busy career. The singer told the outlet:
"The record finally came out and it just didn't feel exactly how we wanted it to,
so we went back into the studio to write, and then I got pregnant.
Then I was like, ‘now this is what I'm going to do!’"
As of September 2021, the last time Stefani performed with the members of
No Doubt was in 2015, and the band has not released new music since Push and Shove.
In recent years, No Doubt has celebrated a few milestones. In 2020, the "Simple Kind of Life"
hitmakers honored the 25th anniversary of Tragic Kingdom with numerous social media posts.
In a video shared to Instagram, Gwen Stefani reminisced over some of her favorite moments
from the era and referred to her band members as her "best friends."
In a now-deleted Instagram upload, Tom Dumont described the creative process of
the album as "magical" due to having "real chemistry" as bandmates and collaborators,
per Inquisitr. With that being said, he admitted that he can't see No
Doubt performing on stage again. Dumont said in the Instagram post:
"I'd love to do one more No Doubt tour, but it feels like that ain't gonna happen.
It's bittersweet. In any case, what great memories."
In April, Stefani told Variety she sees no future with No Doubt. Stefani told the outlet:
"We had so many years together and we all have families now and that's just
our priority. I can't really imagine what the future holds with that. We had done some big
shows together [...] and we knew that was kind of the last thing we were going to do together."
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